I think Zhang Bao should make an appearance. They have Zhang Fei's daughter, they should have his son as well. I actually think Zhang Bao should have been made a character instead of Xing Cai. Maybe they were looking for more women to make into playable characters? But if they actually made an 8 I'd be happy with pretty much any characters they decided to add.

Since contributing to this topic, now when I'm playing the game I'm thinking, "Maybe they should include this person. I wonder if this person should be included in the next one." lol. But as far as women I think Lu Lingqi should make an appearance. It's true Lu Bu dies kind of early on in the game, but the fate of his daughter after he's executed is unknown. Even if she isn't a playable character in story mode she could probably be used in Conquest Mode should they create an 8 and have that mode available again.

I'd like to see them narrow the scope if anything. The cast is far too large already and adding even more will exacerbate the issue.
I wouldn't mind them focusing on a different time. Or point in time at least.

For Wu: Cheng Pu, definitely, since he already has his own named spear. Han Dang's a good choice. For later battles, Xu Sheng might be a decent choice. Or Sun Shao, who was one of Wu's best generals in the battles against Wei, losing very few engagements. Zhu Ran would make sense, too - everyone already knows him for the Yiling fire attack, but he had some pretty spectacular successes aside from that.

For Shu: Liao Hua would definitely make a lot of sense. Jian Yong was prominent enough to be a decent choice, though it would be yet another strategist. Chen Shi was one of Liu Bei's most-used generals. Ma Su would be interesting, but, again, a strategist. Zhang Bao would be a good option for the later years. But Shu's pretty packed as it is.

For Wei: Guo Jia works. Yue Jin and Yu Jin both should be in there. Yue Jin actually led the vanguard of the raid at Wuchao, and of course, he worked with Zhang Liao at the Battle of Hefei. Yu Jin, meanwhile, despite his ignominious surrender at Fan Castle, had three decades of exemplary service. Li Dian was pretty notable, but I don't think he really did quite enough to be a priority. It was mostly just Hefei. Cao Hong had some good moments. But Cao Zhen served later, and helped fight off Zhuge Liang's Northern Campaigns.

For Jin: They probably don't really need to worry too much about adding to Jin, but Jia Chong played a role in the murder of Emperor Cao Mao. Wei Guan worked under Deng Ai during the taking of Shu, and killed Zhong Hui when Zhong rebelled. And may as well toss in Sima Yan.

For Others: Liu Biao was a major power early on. So was Yuan Shu. So was Gongsun Zan, for that matter. Chen Deng might be an interesting choice. Maybe either Li Jue or Guo Si. Perhaps Liu Zhang. I seem to be largely alone in this, but I don't think they should put in people like Wen Chou or Hua Xiong. They were the servants of rulers who didn't have their own kingdoms. It seems like it'd be a waste to put in followers for minor warlords. The exception would be having, say, Ji Ling instead of Yuan Shu, representing Yuan Shu's faction.

For Wu: Cheng Pu, definitely, since he already has his own named spear. Han Dang's a good choice. For later battles, Xu Sheng might be a decent choice. Or Sun Shao, who was one of Wu's best generals in the battles against Wei, losing very few engagements. Zhu Ran would make sense, too - everyone already knows him for the Yiling fire attack, but he had some pretty spectacular successes aside from that.

For Shu: Liao Hua would definitely make a lot of sense. Jian Yong was prominent enough to be a decent choice, though it would be yet another strategist. Chen Shi was one of Liu Bei's most-used generals. Ma Su would be interesting, but, again, a strategist. Zhang Bao would be a good option for the later years. But Shu's pretty packed as it is.

For Wei: Guo Jia works. Yue Jin and Yu Jin both should be in there. Yue Jin actually led the vanguard of the raid at Wuchao, and of course, he worked with Zhang Liao at the Battle of Hefei. Yu Jin, meanwhile, despite his ignominious surrender at Fan Castle, had three decades of exemplary service. Li Dian was pretty notable, but I don't think he really did quite enough to be a priority. It was mostly just Hefei. Cao Hong had some good moments. But Cao Zhen served later, and helped fight off Zhuge Liang's Northern Campaigns.

For Jin: They probably don't really need to worry too much about adding to Jin, but Jia Chong played a role in the murder of Emperor Cao Mao. Wei Guan worked under Deng Ai during the taking of Shu, and killed Zhong Hui when Zhong rebelled. And may as well toss in Sima Yan.

For Others: Liu Biao was a major power early on. So was Yuan Shu. So was Gongsun Zan, for that matter. Chen Deng might be an interesting choice. Maybe either Li Jue or Guo Si. Perhaps Liu Zhang. I seem to be largely alone in this, but I don't think they should put in people like Wen Chou or Hua Xiong. They were the servants of rulers who didn't have their own kingdoms. It seems like it'd be a waste to put in followers for minor warlords. The exception would be having, say, Ji Ling instead of Yuan Shu, representing Yuan Shu's faction.

Well Legends has given us Pang de, Guo Jia and Wang Yi. I think Wei needed more characters and I'm curious to see how they work into the game because legends is adding a lot.
Characters I want to see in 8
Wu-Zhang Zhao
Lu Kang(this choice because there needs to be more later officers to fight Jin)
Zhou Fang
Zhu Ran

Characters that are relavent to the final part of the story or to other characters within it now that they've finally added the Jin kingdom at last. In example: Lu Kang, Zhuge Ke, Jia Chong, Sima Wang, Zhang Chunhua, Liao Hua and Huang Hao.

also i hope (I know they will) they won't include the jin empire and charcters should only have one weapon, their original weapons, i hate having weapons like flutes, harps and stuff, 2 of the worst things they ever did to dynasty warriors (still a great game)